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A plant bioreactor has enormous capability as a system that supports many biological activities, that is, production of plant bodies, virus-like particles (VLPs), and vaccines. Foreign gene expression is an efficient mechanism for getting protein vaccines against different human viral and nonviral diseases. Plants make it easy to deal with safe, inexpensive, and provide trouble-free storage. The broad spectrum of safe gene promoters is being used to avoid risk assessments. Engineered virus-based vectors have no side effect. The process can be manipulated as follows: (a) retrieve and select gene encoding, use an antigenic protein from GenBank and/or from a viral-genome sequence, (b) design and construct hybrid-virus vectors (viral vector with a gene of interest) eventually flanked by plant-specific genetic regulatory elements for constitutive expression for obtaining chimeric virus, (c) gene transformation and/or transfection, for transient expression, into a plant host model, that is, tobacco, to get protocols processed positively, and then moving into edible host plants, (d) confirmation of protein expression by bioassay, PCR-associated tests (RT-PCR), Northern and Western blotting analysis, and serological assay (ELISA), (e) expression for adjuvant recombinant protein seeking better antigenicity, (f) extraction and purification of expressed protein for identification and dosing, (g) antigenicity capability evaluated using parental or oral delivery in animal models (mice and/or rabbit immunization), and (h) growing of construct-treated edible crops in protective green houses. Some successful cases of heterologous gene-expressed protein, as edible vaccine, are being discussed, that is, hepatitis C virus (HCV). R9 mimotope, also named hypervariable region 1 (HVR1), was derived from the HVR1 of HCV. It was used as a potential neutralizing epitope of HCV. The mimotope was expressed using cucumber mosaic virus coat protein (CP), alfalfa mosaic virus CP P3/RNA3, and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) CP tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV) CP as expression vectors into tobacco plants. Expressed recombinant protein has not only been confirmed as a therapeutic but also as a diagnostic tool. Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), HSV-2 gD, and HSV-2 VP16 subunits were transfected into tobacco plants, using TMV CP TMGMV CP expression vectors.

This study illuminates teachers’ conceptions of gender and science and possibilities to challenge these conceptions. Since 2005, a group of teachers (K-6) inSwedenhave met approximately once a month in two-hour seminars to discuss and develop their instruction in science and technology based on a gender perspective. The present data consist mainly of audio-recordings of the teacher seminars and video-recordings of science/technology activities with students. Analysis of the empirical data has been carried out in several stages and was inspired by thematic analysis, the theoretical framework of which is based on Hirdman’s and Beauvoir’s theories of gender. The results show that the teachers’ ideas about gender/equity and science exist on several levels, within which various conceptions are represented. On the one hand, “reasoning around similarity”, where teachers consider that both girls and boys should have the same prerequisites for working with science/technology. In contrast, stereotyped conceptions of girls and boys when the teachers evaluate their activities with students, where condescending attitudes toward girls are also observed. The girls’ ways of working with science/technology are not as highly valued as the boys’, and this outlook on children can ultimately have consequences for girls’ attitudes toward the subject. When teachers are allowed to read their own statements about the girls, they get “a glimpse of themselves”, and their condescending ideas about girls are made visible. In this way, the teachers can begin their active work toward change, which may lead to new outlooks on and attitudes toward students.

The main focus in this thesis is teachers’ gender awareness related to scientific practice. The thesis is based on two different empirical studies: a longitudinal action research study together with a group of teachers (K-6) and a study during an in-service development course where experienced teachers applied gender theory on a real classroom situation, a case.

The studies show that working with gender is complicated and comprises of many aspects of human life. An important part of gender awareness is to be able to relate to these aspects. A question of vital importance is to challenge conceptions of gender in such a way that the conceptions will be verbalized and thereby visualized. Moreover, the studies show that feminist pedagogy and theory of science can lead to a new approach to teaching and learning in science. For teachers without any background in science, there are other competences than just subject matter knowledge that are vital for teaching. Feminist perspectives in professional development reinforce teachers’ pedagogical competences and their pedagogical content knowledge and thereby make these teachers feel they participate in the scientific practice and contribute in developing both the stuff of knowledge and its culture.

The thesis also contributes to new methodological knowledge about action research. One of the results is that time is an important factor to take into consideration depending on what kind of change you want to receive. The researcher engaged in action research as an "outsider" has an important function in order to monitor the process and pay attention and use critical events to drive the change process forward.

5. Vad har genus med naturvetenskap att göra?<em></em>

Andersson, Kristina

University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology.

In this article we problematize the purpose of teaching science in preschool and what competences preschool teachers need in order to conduct science activities in the classroom. The empirical data were collected through an action research project with five preschool and primary school teachers (K-6). In the first section we have used one situation, a floating-sinking experiment, as an illustration of how two different epistemological perspectives generate different foci on which kind of science teaching competences that are fruitful in preschool. In the first perspective, the central goal of science teaching is the development of the children’s conceptual understanding. With this perspective, we found that the science activities with the children were unsuccessful, because the children’s thoughts about concepts did not develop but even the situation enhanced a misconception concerning density. Moreover, the teacher was unsuccessful in supporting the children’s conceptual learning. The second perspective uses a feminist approach that scrutinizes science, where we investigate if the floating-sinking activity contributes to a feeling of participation in a scientific context for the children and if so how the teacher promotes this inclusion. This second perspective showed that the children’s scientific proficiency benefited from the situation; they had acquired a positive experience of the density concept that they could build upon which was reinforced by the teacher. The children discovered that they had power over their own learning by using an experimental approach. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that there are competences other than subject matter knowledge that are also important when preschool teachers engage children in scientific activities. Through process-oriented work with the teacher group, we identified four concrete skills: paying attention to and using children’s previous experiences; capturing unexpected things that happen at the moment they occur; asking questions that challenge the children and that stimulate further investigation; situated presence, that is, “remaining” in the situation and listening to the children and their explanations. We discuss possible ways to move preschool teachers away from their feelings of inadequacy and poor self-confidence in teaching science by reinforcing this kind of pedagogical content knowledge.

In this study we want to call attention to and discuss two aspects of importance for work toward change regarding fundamental values through action research. The first aspect is time, and taking it into account according to “the action research spiral”. The second aspect concerns the importance of critical events for making progress and challenging preconceived notions. We also stress that researchers as “outsiders” have the opportunity to overview the process in a way that the other participants (insiders) do not. The empirical data is collected from an action research project on science and gender conducted inSweden with teachers from preschool and K-6. The collaboration was proceeded during 2005 to 2010, a total of 57 months.

10. FjärilarBengtsson, Bengt Å.

et al.

Björklund, Jan-Olov

Cederberg, Björn

ArtDatabanken.

Eliasson, Claes

Franzén, Markus

Lunds Universitet.

Hydén, Nils

Lindeborg, Mats

Palmqvist, Göran

Ryrholm, Nils

University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology.

Recent global change has had a substantial influence on the distribution of organisms, and many species are currently expanding their ranges. To evaluate the underlying processes, long-term data with good geographic resolution are essential. One important but generally overlooked data source is offered by the taxon-specific national catalogues of first provincial records that are kept in many countries. Here, we use such data to quantify trait-based influences on range expansion in Swedish butterflies and moths between 1973 and 2010. Of 282 species meeting pre-defined quality criteria, 170 expanded their northern range margin, with a mean expansion rate of 2.7 km per year. The analyses demonstrate that habitat and diet generalists, forest species and species active during warm conditions have expanded their ranges more rapidly than other species. Notably, range expansion in diet specialists was positively related to a nitrogen-favoured larval diet, an effect not found among oligo- or polyphagous species. In contrast to the general view, this shows that specialist species can undergo rapid range expansion. We suggest that increased areas of nitrogen-rich habitat, and increased availability of a nitrogen-favoured diet, are among the most important drivers of range expansions, potentially having far-reaching consequences for a wide variety of organisms.

This paper reports from a study exploring how an increased knowledge about gender issues can affect pre-school student teachers’ reflections and actions concerning science and technology activities. We have analysed written assignments given to student enrolled in a teacher education programme as well as group discussions that were part of their science and technology courses. One assignment was focused on describing situations during their pre-school placements where the students themselves judged gender to be important. The analysis identifies a reoccurring argumentation among the students that draws on an idea that children need to ‘be who they are’, thus portraying them as having a stable core identity. In this paper we ask what it means to let the children ‘be who they are’ and what the consequences of this view for developing the pre-school according to the curriculum and the education act can be. In doing so, we discuss issues that respectively may promote and hinder pre-school teachers to develop strategies that challenges stereotypical gender patterns. Furthermore, we problematize what consequences this might have for science teaching.

15. The use of games for learning about health and diet

Hillström, Lars

et al.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology.

Enander, Angelica

University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Stenberg, Sandra

University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

Reversed size dimorphism is common in birds of prey, owls and in waders. Not much attention has been paid to the evolution of morphological characters such as wing morphology and variables related to flight agility. The aim of this study was to investigate if the morphological variables in shorebirds, related to flight performance, such as wing length, wing area, wing loading, and factors such as aspect ratio, are related to the display-flights performed by these different species of shorebirds. Data on morphological variables, e.g. body mass, wing length, wing area etc. was collected at the British Museum of Natural History, London, UK.

Data on behavioral variables, e.g. duration of a display flight or height of display flight was extracted from the published literature. There was a significant difference in wing length dimorphism (t = 2.51, p= 0.0402), when comparing between species within the same genus that had higher versus lower level of flight performance. There was also a significant difference in wing area dimorphism (t = 2.84, p= 0.025), for higher versus lower level of flight performance. However, there was no such difference for weight dimorphism, nor for tarsus dimorphism, or for wing loading or aspect ratio, when comparing between species for higher versus lower level of flight performance. Further analyses will be presented and a suggestive explanation for the evolution of reversed sexual dimorphism will be discussed at the congress. The hypotheses for increased food- or incubation efficiency is with several arguments irrelevant to shorebirds (which will be discussed).

17. Creating Biosfärum- a gate to the Biosphere Reserve.

Hillström, Lars

et al.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology.

The Swedish moose population has during the last 60 years been going through rather drastic changes in numbers. Recently there also seemed to have been a shift towards males with less and less developed antlers, which is an important problem for the moose population breeding. The aim with the present study was to study how antler size in the moose is related to age, body mass and population density. Information on the antler and body mass characters was obtained from 425 males that were shot during the annual moose hunting in October between the years 1999-2006. Age and body mass were the variables that explained most of the variation in antler size in this study. A residual of antler points over age, demonstrated a positive correlation between residuals and carcass, such that males with larger antlers for their age, was on average heavier than other males. There was also a significant negative correlation between population density and carcass. The high mortality rate of older males have lead to that few males reach an age where the horns are fully developed and the age distribution has moved to younger ages. As a consequence of this fact the males start to reproduce at younger ages. As the rutting behaviour is a very energy demanding activity, the younger male’s body growth will be constrained and there will be a large cost to come in rutting stage early. As the percentage of males and male age is having an impact on the reproduction of the population, this is an important problem which should be considered in order to give the right prerequisites for a more productive population of moose with big males that have well developed horns.

19. Inventeringar av kalkhällmarker i östra Dalsland

Hultengren, Svante

et al.

Naturcentrum.

Bohman, Petter

Naturcentrum.

Ryrholm, Nils

University of Gävle, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Biology.

A Chinese proverb observes that women “hold up half the sky”, yet often in science education we have ignored the knowledge generated by feminist researchers about how females engage and participate in science. Further, science education has often failed to consider the implications from feminist critiques of science on science education. This chapter will provide a feminist perspective on who generates knowledge in science education and what knowledge is acceptable as ‘scientific’ by the field. Second, we will discuss the culture of science education and discuss whether science educators value the knowledge produced by gender and feminist researchers. In particular, we will examine the integration (or lack thereof) of gender issues into the dominant areas in science education research, such as teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, the development of students’ science knowledge through inquiry, the role of conceptual change, and teachers’ preparation and professional development programs. Third, we will provide examples of how gender theory and feminist perspectives in science education could generate new knowledge about gender and science education.

Leaf trichomes can protect plants against herbivory and drought, but can be costly to produce. Theory suggests that selection for reduced costs of resistance may result in the evolution of inducible defences. We quantified variation in tolerance to drought and defoliation, and tested the hypotheses that (a) tolerance is associated with cost, (b) leaf trichome production increases tolerance to drought, and (c) trichome production is increased in response to defoliation and drought stress in Arabidopsis lyrata (Brassicaceae). Eight maternal half-sib families were exposed to two watering regimes and four defoliation treatments in a factorial design. Tolerance to drought varied among families and was inversely related to leaf size, but was not related to trichome density. Family mean performance in the low-watering treatment tended to correlate negatively with that in the control treatment. Trichome production was not induced by defoliation or drought stress. The results suggest that there is genetic variation in tolerance to drought in the study population, that tolerance to drought is associated with a cost, and that trichome production does not increase tolerance to drought in A. lyrata.

The aim of the present study was to investigate cognitive, emotional, and physiological effects of two background noise conditions (high noise: 51 LAeq and low noise: 39 LAeq) during work in a simulated open-plan office, followed by four restoration conditions (river movie with sound, only river sound, silence, and office noise) after the work period. Students (N = 47) went through one practice session and two experimental sessions, one each with the low and high noise conditions. In each experimental session they worked for two hours with tasks involving basic working memory processes. We also took physiological measures of stress (cortisol and catecholamine) and self-reports of mood and fatigue. The results showed that the participants remembered fewer words, rated themselves as more tired and less motivated in high noise compared to low noise. The participants showed high levels of cortisol when they arrived to the experimental session and they had a significant (p <.001) decline in both noise conditions after two hours of work. An identical decline was shown in the norepinephrine levels (p < 0.001). The restoration phase also indicated that the sound conditions may promote different restorative experiences. To conclude, the present study showed that noise level can be of importance for working memory performance and subjective feelings of tiredness and motivation in an open-plan office and that varying sound conditions may promote different restorative experiences.

A crucial issue for prospective teachers (PTs) in their education is to develop pedagogical content knowledge (PCK; i.e. how to make a topic comprehensible to pupils). However, research has shown that PTs may have tacit ideas about teaching that act as filters preventing consideration of unfamiliar and discrepant ideas. These ideas must be elicited and taken into consideration in order to be modified. Therefore, PTs’ explicit conceptions may constitute a valuable resource in teacher education. The aim of this study was to investigate PTs’ ideas about pupils’ difficulties, at a topic-specific level, upon beginning the teacher education programme. The “Lesson Preparation Method” was used in four case studies to elicit the conceptions of 32 PTs regarding pupils’ difficulties in four specific science and mathematics topics: plant growth, gases, equations and heat and temperature. In all four topic groups (n = 5 – 11), there was a variety of initial conceptions about pupils’ difficulties, which were categorised into two to five topic-specific categories. Although, initially, PTs may not have expressed any notions about pupils’ difficulties, conceptions were elicited by using the Lesson Preparation Method. Furthermore, we found that the initial ideas corresponded with earlier research on pupils’ difficulties, which could provide a potential resource when creating a scaffolding context in teacher education programmes where PCK development is stimulated.

We provide a comprehensive overview of those Lepidopteran invasions to Europe that result from increasing globalisation and also review expansion of species within Europe. A total of 97 non-native Lepidoptera species (about 1% of the known fauna), in 20 families and 11 superfamilies have established so far in Europe, of which 30 alone are Pyraloidea. In addition, 88 European species in 25 families have expanded their range within Europe and around 23% of these are of Mediterranean or Balkan origin, invading the north and west. Although a number of these alien species have been in Europe for hundreds of years, 74% have established during the 20th century and arrivals are accelerating, with an average of 1.9 alien Lepidoptera newly established per year between 20002007. For 78 aliens with a known area of origin, Asia has contributed 28.9%, Africa (including Macaronesian islands, Canaries, Madeira and Azores) 21.6%, North America 16.5%, Australasia 7.2% and the neotropics just 5.2%. The route for almost all aliens to Europe is via importation of plants or plant products. Most alien Lepidoptera established in Europe are also confined to man-made habitats, with 52.5% occuring in parks and gardens. We highlight four species in particular, Diaphania perspectalis, Cacyreus marshalli, Cameraria ohridella and Paysandisia archon, as the most important current economic threats.

A sustainable fishery in the Baltic and Bothnian Seas requires the development and introduction of fishing gear which fishes selectively and at the same time excludes raiding seals. The purpose of this study was twofold: firstly to test and evaluate rigid grids as a method for retaining only larger herring in a pontoon trap, and secondly to analyze which factors were influencing the selection process. The results demonstrate that it is indeed possible to sort herring by size in a pontoon fish chamber. The efficiency of excluding undersized herring was at best 27%, using a selection grid covering just over 0.1% of the fish chamber wall. The factors which have most effect on the selection were the quantity of fish in the trap, the season of the year, the time of day and the presence of seals. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The interrelationships between plants and rhizosphere bacteria are strongly dependent on the quality and quantity of root exudates. The ability to colonize roots is crucial for pseudomonads to function as biological control agents of root- and soil-borne pathogenic microbes. The multiplication of rhizosphere bacteria is restricted in the presence of simple phenolic compounds, which are components of the resistance mechanisms of plants to pathogens. Caffeic acid is a phenolic compound, which is commonly found in wheat tissues. It is prone to oxidation into o-quinones, which are toxic to microorganisms. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the ability of microorganisms to resist caffeic acid and its oxidation products could play a role in the early colonization of wheat seedlings. Among the fluorescent pseudomonads that we have studied, strain PSR114 is one of the most efficient colonizers of wheat seedlings during the first 48h after seed germination, and it is particularly resistant to products resulting from the spontaneous oxidation of caffeic acid. This strain was isolated from the rhizosphere of oilseed rape and identified as being closely related to Pseudomonas proteolytica through the analysis of 16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequences. At pH 7.0, this strain grew intensively in the presence of 1.50mgmL-1 of caffeic acid. Its multiplication was partially reduced in the presence of oxidized caffeic acid at concentrations above 0.21mgmL-1, and completely inhibited at concentrations above 0.38mgmL-1. A Tn5 transposon mutant of PSR114 had lower level of resistance to the oxidation products of caffeic acid, as well as reduced capacity to colonize wheat seedlings when compared to the wild type strain. This work demonstrates that resistance to oxidation products of caffeic acid can be important for successful bacterial colonization of wheat seedlings.

Long-range, seasonal migration is a widespread phenomenon among insects, allowing them to track and exploit abundant but ephemeral resources over vast geographical areas. However, the basic patterns of how species shift across multiple locations and seasons are unknown in most cases, even though migrant species comprise an important component of the temperate-zone biota. The painted lady butterfly Vanessa cardui is such an example; a cosmopolitan continuously-brooded species which migrates each year between Africa and Europe, sometimes in enormous numbers. The migration of 2009 was one of the most impressive recorded, and thousands of observations were collected through citizen science programmes and systematic entomological surveys, such as high altitude insect-monitoring radar and ground-based butterfly monitoring schemes. Here we use V. cardui as a model species to better understand insect migration in the Western Palaearctic, and we capitalise on the complementary data sources available for this iconic butterfly. The migratory cycle in this species involves six generations, encompassing a latitudinal shift of thousands of kilometres (up to 60 degrees of latitude). The cycle comprises an annual poleward advance of the populations in spring followed by an equatorward return movement in autumn, with returning individuals potentially flying thousands of kilometres. We show that many long-distance migrants take advantage of favourable winds, moving downwind at high elevation (from some tens of metres from the ground to altitudes over 1000 m), pointing at strong similarities in the flight strategies used by V. cardui and other migrant Lepidoptera. Our results reveal the highly successful strategy that has evolved in these insects, and provide a useful framework for a better understanding of long-distance seasonal migration in the temperate regions worldwide.

Twenty-nine butterfly species are listed on the Annexes of the Habitats Directive. To assist everyone who wants or needs to take action for one of these species, we compiled an overview of the habitat requirements and ecology of each species, as well as information on their conservation status in Europe. This was taken from the recent Red List and their main biogeographical regions (taken from the first reporting on Article 17 of the Directive). Most important are the Dos and Don`ts, which summarize in a few bullet points what to do and what to avoid in order to protect and conserve these butterflies and their habitats.

The mycotoxin patulin is produced by the blue mould pathogen Penicillium expansum in rotting apples during postharvest storage. Patulin is toxic to a wide range of organisms, including humans, animals, fungi and bacteria. Wash water from apple packing and processing houses often harbours patulin and fungal spores, which can contaminate the environment. Ubiquitous epiphytic yeasts, such as Rhodosporidium kratochvilovae strain LS11 which is a biocontrol agent of P. expansum in apples, have the capacity to resist the toxicity of patulin and to biodegrade it. Two non-toxic products are formed. One is desoxypatulinic acid. The aim of the work was to develop rapid, high-throughput bioassays for monitoring patulin degradation in multiple samples. Escherichia coli was highly sensitive to patulin, but insensitive to desoxypatulinic acid. This was utilized to develop a detection test for patulin, replacing time-consuming thin layer chromatography or high-performance liquid chromatography. Two assays for patulin degradation were developed, one in liquid medium and the other in semi-solid medium. Both assays allow the contemporary screening of a large number of samples. The liquid medium assay utilizes 96-well microtiter plates and was optimized for using a minimum of patulin. The semi-solid medium assay has the added advantage of slowing down the biodegradation, which allows the study and isolation of transient degradation products. The two assays are complementary and have several areas of utilization, from screening a bank of microorganisms for biodegradation ability to the study of biodegradation pathways.